Meeting your military work demands

Todays topics for discussion

What are your working demands in your position?

How will you achieve these working demands?

Why is this of importance?

Brief introduction to the workshop

The complex soldier

Physical Performance Continuum

(Figure modified from: Billing and Drain 2017; Drain and Reilly 2019)

Changes following field exercises and operations/deployment

Figure created with data from Ojanen 2022
Doctoral Thesis

The complex soldier

Physical Performance Continuum

(Figure modified from: Billing and Drain 2017; Drain and Reilly 2019)

The complex soldier

  • There are many stress factors for the modern soldier

  • Factors affecting soldiers training adaptations and
    performance development

Icebreaker 😎 (15 min)

First task of reflection: Physical skills and mission ready

- If you had to lead a mission tomorrow, what physical skills/capacities would you most rely on?

Military working demands continues

  • If you think about your own field of expertise, which work-related demand do you consider the most important or most influential, and why?

    • What makes it stand out compared to other demands?
    • Which factors are shaping this working demand (technology, environment, speciality, region, country specific etc.)?

What Makes a Combat-Ready Soldier? (20 mins)

Common combat roles and physical tasks (e.g. carrying gear, movement under fire, tactical obstacles)

Discussion;

“How does your (the cadet) daily physical training reflect these demands?”

If not in particular: How can you implement some of these working demand in your training day?

Coping with the demands

  • What strategies help you handle this demand effectively?

  • Can this demand also be seen as an opportunity for your development as a soldier?

What Makes a Combat-Ready Soldier? (20 mins)

To prepare for the demands of military duty and military pentathlon, we need to train smart – not just a lot and hard

Five core training principles can guide this process:

1. Load and adaptation – how the body responds to stress
2. Variation – to prevent stagnation and overload
3. Progression – to ensure continuous improvement
4. Specificity – to match training with performance demands
5. Monitoring and control – to adjust and individualize the plan

What Makes a Combat-Ready Soldier? (15 mins)

We have assesments - what are the tests telling us?

What Makes a Combat-Ready Soldier?

Discussion groups;

Which fitness tests do you have in your academy?

Do we have different tests between countries?

What Makes a Combat-Ready Soldier?

Discussion groups;

Why fitness is more that just passing physical training tests?

Elaborate of the idea of “test” fitness vs. “functional” fitness
- Can we predict your functional fitness?

Can you share an experience from your school days/work where the standard physical fitness test did not prepare you for or reflect the actual challenges you encountered?

How would your training look different if your goal was real-world performance instead of just test performance?

What Makes a Combat-Ready Soldier? (15 mins)

What is the association telling us?

Predicting your Field Artillery Loading Task by a maximal strength test (NATO 2019)

  • \(R^{2}\) = 0.57

  • 57 % of the variation in Field Artillery Loading Performance is explained by isometric pull strength

What Makes a Combat-Ready Soldier? (15 mins)

What is the association telling us?

Figure from NATO (2019)

Test fitness vs- functional fitness

Test fitness

  • Focus: Passing minimum standards (i.e push-ups, sit-ups, run, ball thoss)
  • Approach: Train for test-specific drills
  • Outcome: Meets assessment requirements
  • Limitation: Narrow scope, less adaptable
  • Example: 3 km timed run

Functional fitness

  • Focus: Real-world readiness, occupational task demands

  • Approach: Train movement patterns (i.e. lift, carry, crawl, sprint)

  • Outcome: Broad performance and injury resilience

  • Limitation: Slower progress on specific test scores

  • Example: Carrying heavy pack uphill - marching

Test fitness vs- functional fitness (15 mins)

  • Valid predictions?

  • To assess an individuals ability to cope with occupational demands

  • “Evaluation of the effects of physical training programs on occupational task performance, should measure relative strain, such as percentage of maximal capacity, of the participants while performing the task (functional) in addition to the performance outcome (test). These data provide more insight into an individuals ability to cope with occupational demands.”

Take aways working demands and tests

Key Takeaway:

  • Test fitness = meeting a standard (pass/fail based on a score).

  • Functional fitness = being ready for the unexpected - occupational demand.

    • Military pentathlon exercises, could some of these exercises be implemented in a test battery to test occupational demands?
  • Best approach: Train to exceed test standards while building functional fitness (specificity), and resilience for real-world battlefield performance.

Possible solution/suggestion:

  • Make your own test batteries for relevant occupational task?
    • Then you, at least, can monitor and control your progression in relevant occupational tasks that you will meet on the battlefield.
    • Control of training progression?
    • Feasible?
    • Motivational?

Session 3: From Mission Readiness to the Military Pentathlon

Session 3: From Mission Readiness to the Military Pentathlon

Group task:

  • Explain how each one aligns with real-life soldiering skills
    • Transferable to your field of speciality?
    • In which situations can you meet these skills in your field of speciality?
  • (speed, coordination, endurance, decision-making, concentration, agility, aerob, strength, muscle endurance

Session 3: From Mission Readiness to the Military Pentathlon

Cadets individual task:

  • Which event would challenge you most and why?

Group task:

  • Design a weekly PT session that includes at least one combat skill and one pentathlon-inspired drill

Wrap-Up & Cadet Takeaways

Training with purpose

  • Key points:

  • Importance of physical fitness

  • Working demands

  • Can we predict your occupational task performance?

  • Military pentathlon - a way of training on working demands

References

Billing, Dan C., and Jace R. Drain. 2017. “International Congress on SoldiersPhysical Performance 2017: Research Priorities Across the Service Members Operational Lifecycle.” Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 20 (November): S1–3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2017.10.025.
Drain, Jace R., and Tara J. Reilly. 2019. “Physical Employment Standards, Physical Training and Musculoskeletal Injury in Physically Demanding Occupations.” Edited by Gemma S. Milligan, Sam D. Blacker, Pieter E. H. Brown, and Andrew G. Siddall. Work 63 (4): 495–508. https://doi.org/10.3233/wor-192963.
Hauschild, V. D., D. W. DeGroot, S. M. Hall, T. L. Grier, K. D. Deaver, K. G. Hauret, and B. H. Jones. 2017. “Fitness Tests and Occupational Tasks of Military Interest: A Systematic Review of Correlations.” Journal Article. Occup Environ Med 74 (2): 144–53. https://doi.org/10.1136/oemed-2016-103684.
Hendrickson, N. R., M. A. Sharp, J. A. Alemany, L. A. Walker, E. A. Harman, B. A. Spiering, D. L. Hatfield, et al. 2010. “Combined Resistance and Endurance Training Improves Physical Capacity and Performance on Tactical Occupational Tasks.” Journal Article. Eur J Appl Physiol 109 (6): 1197–1208. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-010-1462-2.
Mala, J., T. K. Szivak, S. D. Flanagan, B. A. Comstock, J. Z. Laferrier, C. M. Maresh, and W. J. Kraemer. 2015. “The Role of Strength and Power During Performance of High Intensity Military Tasks Under Heavy Load Carriage.” Journal Article. US Army Med Dep J, 3–11.
NATO, Report. 2019. “Biological Limitations to Task Performance and Trainability.” Report. https://publications.sto.nato.int/publications/STO%20Technical%20Reports/STO-TR-HFM-269/$$TR-HFM-269-ALL.pdf.
Ojanen, T., H. Kyröläinen, M. Igendia, and K. Häkkinen. 2018. “Effect of Prolonged Military Field Training on Neuromuscular and Hormonal Responses and Shooting Performance in Warfighters.” Journal Article. Mil Med 183 (11-12): e705–12. https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usy122.